A few thousand people crowded the sidewalks between 18th and the Parkway and Eakins Oval for the parade.

Among them, Neftali, native born Puerto Rican who has been here for four years.

“I’ve never been to the parade in Philadelphia, so I wanted to check it out, have a glimpse of what it looks like,” he said. “We were actually trying to figure ‘where’s the food,’ we want to have food!”

His wife said she learned about the parade just the other day:

“I was riding to work and heard on the radio that they were having a parade here on Sunday, so that’s how I brought him here, although he’s from Puerto Rico,” she said.

The Parkway was filled with floats, dancing groups and, of course, Latino music.